Totems is a new photographic series by French photographer <a href="http://www.alaindelorme.com/?p=works&amp;ga=totem" target="_blank">Alain Delorme</a> that looks at the new pillars of society - goods "Made in China". These precarious towers of chairs, bottles, toys, cardboard boxes and other products transported through the streets of Shanghai via <a href="../tag/bike" target="_blank">bike</a> bring to light the paradoxes of China's most dynamic city. Delorme purposely edits and alters the images to manufacture an "<a href="http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/09/05/david-trautrimass-habitat-machines/" target="_blank">augmented reality</a>" -- one that is exaggerated, but not unrealistic. Men really do transport delicately balanced towers of goods on bike throughout the city.

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Totems by Alain Delorme

Delorme's new series was recently exhibited at the Magda Danysz Gallery in Paris. It depicts the plight of migrant workers who transport good across the city.

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Totems by Alain Delorme

Totems is a look at the pillars of society -- goods "Made in China", which gain almost sacred status.

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Totems by Alain Delorme

The precariously-balanced towers of manufactured goods are transported via migrant workers in Shanghai and admired along their route.

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Totems by Alain Delorme

The men transporting the loads have almost super human powers -- they're capable of moving unbelievable amounts of goods on their backs.

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Totems by Alain Delorme

The images are all based in reality but are altered and photoshopped to present an "augmented reality".

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Totems by Alain Delorme

As Raphaële Bertho, a photography historian, says: "Under the blue sky of a highly colored Shanghai, men carry throughout the city unbelievable piles. These precarious columns made of cardboard or chairs appear as new totems of a society in complete transformation, both a factory for the world and a new El Dorado of the market economy."

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Totems by Alain Delorme

The images reveal an almost absurd and over-the-top look at our obsession with goods.

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Totems by Alain Delorme

The towers of goods also reflect and echo the towering buildings and skyscrapers in the background, pointing to how the city of Shanghai is continually growing and expanding.

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Totems by Alain Delorme

Bertho also says, "Far from a hymn to materialism, these images, putting forward the overabundance of the objects, tend to the absurd and let catch a glimpse of the complexity of a country reinventing itself. Between dream and reality, these pictures turn upside down the scales of values and blur the border between the visible and the invisible."

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Totems by Alain Delorme

Totems is a new photographic series by French photographer Alain Delorme that looks at the new pillars of society - goods "Made in China". These precarious towers of chairs, bottles, toys, cardboard boxes and other products transported through the streets of Shanghai via bike bring to light the paradoxes of China's most dynamic city. Delorme purposely edits and alters the images to manufacture an "augmented reality" -- one that is exaggerated, but not unrealistic. Men really do transport delicately balanced towers of goods on bike throughout the city.